Determinants of well-being in North Korea: Evidence from the post-famine period

Demographic Changes in North Korea: 1993–2008

“…in 1997, however, this rate surged to 14 percent. it then decreased to 6-7 percent by 2002 (Schwekendiek 2011).…”

“…Bribery and informal market activities rose sharply with severe shortages: based on information gathered from refugees departing from north Korea between 1997 and 2004, some four-fifths of total household income was generated through private-plot farming, stockbreeding, and the like (Kim and Song 2008). in the mid-2000s, fearing too much marketization and facing new forms of corruption, Pyongyang began to curb liberalization by limiting market activities (Schwekendiek 2011). in a similar vein, in 2009 the government introduced a currency reform that replaced older bills, and in the process destroyed a substantial part of household savings that were mostly held by traders (Frank 2010).…”

Variations in the birth-season effects on height attainment in the two Koreas

“…Note that this data has also been discussed extensively elsewhere (Shrimpton and Kachondham 2003;Schwekendiek 2008a). In 2002, the United Nations in collaboration with North Korean authorities collected heights of 6000 children (Shrimpton and Kachondham 2003;Schwekendiek 2008a). Figure 5 shows the seasonal development of HAZ of North Korean children born in 2000Á2002, thus being raised after the great famine, which peaked from the mid to the end of the 1990s (Lee 2005).…”

“…For this purpose, we employ HAZ data of North Korean children measured in the post-famine period (CBS et al 2002). Note that this data has also been discussed extensively elsewhere (Shrimpton and Kachondham 2003;Schwekendiek 2008a). In 2002, the United Nations in collaboration with North Korean authorities collected heights of 6000 children (Shrimpton and Kachondham 2003;Schwekendiek 2008a).…”

Anthropometric within-country Inequality and the Estimation of Skill Premia with Anthropometric Indicators

“…The advantage of the Republic of Korea in terms of biological well-being over the communist North grew steadily and was on average about 6 cm in the 1980s. Schwekendiek (2008aSchwekendiek ( , 2008bSchwekendiek ( , 2009 significantly extends those Korean studies by identifying differences of living standards within North Korea: for example, he studied the effects of military and communist-party-related food distribution systems. Source: Pak (2004) Figure 4: Mean male height of North Korean escapees (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) and South Koreans (1997) Komlos and Kriwy (2003) come to a similar conclusion in their study on the two Germanies.…”